


Good Enough

by Persephone_Raine



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-19 00:48:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15498573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephone_Raine/pseuds/Persephone_Raine
Summary: “Well,” He began with an intake of breath. He lay his arm across the knee he had propped up, tipping his hat down like an old southern gentleman, “You are really distracted. Which isn’t like you. Thinkin’ the sun is getting to you.” She just shook her head in denial swallowing the anxiety threatening to choke her up some more. “Nope. Just fine.” She shuddered a sigh hoping he’d let it go. Like the stubborn fuckhead he is, he didn’t buy it.





	Good Enough

I shouldn’t have ever let you conquer me the way you have, Maddie thought. She stood afar leaning against one of the buildings of Oberland Station, watching the red kelted mayor kneeling down and helping to clean a settler’s shotgun. The child was no more than maybe ten, and she shouldn’t have been so breathless studying the ghoul so close. The way the corner of his lips twitched when the kid correctly cleaned down the dusty barrel, how excited he got when the child would touch him without any sort of fear.

A comfortable kinship.

It was something so goddamn beautiful it made her stomach clench, because she knew without a shadow of a doubt she was in love with the asshole. He had such a charm and charisma not even her herself could resist. Maddie could easily just turn away from such desires, she had with MacCready.

Yet out of all people, she was in love with a ghoul who was honestly out of her league.

This was someone who wanted revenge for killing a dear friend, stealing all his treasures. Hancock felt her gaze and glanced her way. He smirked over at her but she scoffed back as if there wasn’t a deep blush racing up her neck. She turned her head away to focus on a woman kneading the ground of her crops with her palms. She didn’t want him catching onto how her breath caught in her throat.

The vault dweller pushed up off the barn, feet crunching on the clay gravel to fix up one of the missile turrets. Hancock’s shadow casted over her like an umbrella on a sunny beach day, but she pretended not to mind at all. Like he was never there. “Need help?” His voice was sultry and so goddamn smooth it killed her. A lot of ghouls she met sounded like they smoked cartons upon cartons of the roughest cigarettes, but him? It’s like the radiation never touched him.

He sounded like he just woke up from a nap twenty four seven. Just filled with gunsmoke and a husky purr that made her legs tremble sometimes when they were walking through the commonwealth at night. He was right when he said he did his best work at night.

Maddie spared a glance over her shoulder brushing her dark hair back behind her ear since it was blocking her view. Not that she could miss the ghoul looming so much taller than her. It was face to crotch ratio. Her eyes zeroed in on it first, since, you know. That was the first thing she was able to even see. When she met his eyes she didn’t miss that cocky toothed grin, and the suggestive waggle of his bare eyebrows.

“Nah.” Maddie stated curtly, turning her attention back to the gizmo in her filthy hands. “I got it.” Much to her disappointment and bewilderment, he ignored her. He squatted in front of her to fix the optic on the opposite side, once again facing each other. His hands were rough and ruined from the chemicals he just had to indulge in. However, it didn’t make a difference to her. They were burned and veiny, his arms were bulky despite everything else.

So capable of anything and everything. Maddie swallowed visibly turning her eyes back to the robot before he could catch onto her gawking so openly. “Hey, spitfire.” Hancock teased, catching her attention once more. Her eyes slowly drew up to meet his under her thick eyelashes, only narrowing to escape the glare of the sun that rained down on him with radiancy.

“What’s up?” She replied casually.

“Ya good?”

“Yeah.” She shot back too quickly.

Hancock’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Seriously.” Maddie repeated irritably. “I’m fine. Why are you even asking?”

“Well,” He began with an intake of breath. He lay his arm across the knee he had propped up, tipping his hat down like an old southern gentleman, “You are really distracted. Which isn’t like you. Thinkin’ the sun is getting to you.”

She just shook her head in denial swallowing the anxiety threatening to choke her up some more. “Nope. Just fine.” She shuddered a sigh hoping he’d let it go. Like the stubborn fuckhead he is, he didn’t buy it.

Standing up, John sashayed his sash until it hung on his hips right above where his knife remained holstered away. “I think it’s time for a chem break don’t ya think?” He dared her to object. She opened her mouth to do so, but he beat her to the punchline, “That turret is good enough.” He snapped lightly. “Give yourself a break, would ya?”

As much as she hated to admit it, well, it was true. Her arms and biceps were sore from all the hammering, ripping, tugging, you get the picture. Manual labor was never her strong point up until these days when there wasn’t much of a choice to be made. Maddie rose up brushing off the dust from her arms, wiggling the overcoat away in the breeze pulling through.

She found shade inside of the barn ignoring the dangerous lurch her heart did when the ghoul collapsed himself next to her. He couldn’t sweat, but now that she could notice it, well… She was pouring it. And she had a really bad fuckin’ headache. “This heat…” She moaned, rubbing her temples while hiding beneath the hugging shadows around her.

Hancock wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she found herself losing herself in him again. She lay her head there on his chest just because it was the most cushioned part of him. That, and she refused to go anywhere else. “Thanks for trying.” She mumbled, pulling herself from him.

He looked over at her with an expression she couldn’t measure, but didn’t try deciphering it right away. “Just tryin’ to help you. Maybe wanna try taking the edge off?” He motioned to the brands of psycho, and med-x inside his frock. After heavy debating she grabbed the pain reliever and shot it up without another question.

That became their silent little thing, doing chems together. Maddie herself never went overboard with them, and sometimes she’d do it for the hell of it. These post apocalyptic days were nothing to fuck with and part of her body always ached.

She never really had to move a muscle back in the old days. Plus, being shoved in a giant freezer really took a toll on your joints and muscles. Speaking of joints…

Maddie turned her head in time to catch Hancock popping in a few berry mentats.

“We should think of growing cannabis sometime.”

Hancock choked for a minute and had to swig a shot of whiskey to keep it going down his piss burning throat. “Excuse me?”

Maddie grinned at him shoving him with her arm playfully. “Back in my day,” She drawled tugging her thick black hair into a bun just to get the hair off her neck, “We smoked joints. Rolled them and puffed them like you’re doing there.”

Hancock just rolled his eyes at her, “As if I never heard of it. Weren’t you a lawyer? What kind of lawyer goes against the bills and laws they went through years of schooling for?”

“The ones with common sense, obviously.” Maddie retorted with a teasing smirk. “Plus, detoxes do wonders for your body. You might spend hours on the john beforehand…” She finished.

The mayor just chuckled at that saying, “Can’t believe my little Maddie was a rule breaker.”

His Maddie.

That had such a nice ring to it she’d make it her ringtone somehow if she could. Not that phones existed anymore, but. She found herself smiling, and for once, Hancock knew why.

He’d tease her about it usually, seeing as how she went from absolutely hating his guts, to tolerating him, to the most tightest best friends anyone could want. Wherever Hancock was, there she was. And vice versa.

The two remained seated just watching the evening turn to dusk. The golden hue of the sunset did something to John. As much as he claimed to do his best work after the sun goes down, the burnt skies around him made him… Glow.

Hancock was a man of substance too. He still found beauty in this world even when she couldn’t. He felt the vibes of the blowing wind and the grass that tickled her calves when they walked past it sometimes. He made comments about the galaxies, but she couldn’t take her view from him. She could pull away just enough to be distracted, but he was always there conquering her mindset.

Licking along her lips she asked in such a tender tone it even caught Hancock off guard, “Do you ever get tired of me?” She looked over at him watching the answers flow between the obsidian beads of his eyes. “Always fighting, working… I know you enjoy the bloodshed of men and people who deserve it, but the risks of danger…”

Shaking his head, the mayor began, “I’ve had a deathwish for years, even before you came along.” He swirled around with his legs crossed between the two of them. “If I die out here defending the innocent people, then fuck it. That’s how I go.”

Terror gripped the reigns of her mind, “I don’t want you dying.” She blurted out, eyebrows furrowing in the middle forming a deep crease. The ghoul’s eyes popped wide for a moment knowing even that statement was such a rare specimen to come from her. “I-I mean.” Maddie huffed, running her fingers through her hair.

“Just, b-because you got a town you know?”

“You wouldn’t miss me?” He teased, though seriously testing the waters.

“You don’t run with someone for months and not get some kind of attachment.”

“You saying you got feelings for lil ol’ Johnny boy?”

Maddie grew stone silent there letting the rage overcome her, because she didn’t want to admit to him having that effect. Being that important to her. This was her punishment. She was enjoying it so much.

His teasing little grin fell as he studied her. He knew when she got angry.

Maddie’s jaw was set so tight you could cut paper with how sharp her chin was.

“Maddie…” Hancock began slowly. “I didn’t mean to piss you off. It was a joke.”

“That’s just the thing.” She bit coldly, eyes narrowing. “You are always joking. Don’t you ever take anything seriously?” She demanded, throwing her hands in the air. “Joking about people’s feeling isn’t funny, or fun.”

“Hey, whoa,” He flicked the tip of his hat up and when his eyes met her, the fury subsided. “The fuck you attacking me for?” He asked.

She parted her lips, but instead leaned over to hug his shoulders so tight her collarbone was digging into him. The mayor sat there going through the ring of emotions this tiny woman just went through. The sun was barely visible and everything around them was shadowed, her hair brushed the floor when it unwound from its hold on top of her head.

His arms slowly came around her. Maddie nuzzled into him whispering only loud enough for him to hear, “I don’t want one of my best friends dying, John.” She felt him swallow this go round. “Would you play safe just for me? I’m the reckless one, remember?”

He laughed curtly at that. “Right. I’ll stay as safe as I can. Which is a little harder with you in the lead.” She pulled back leaning her palms on the rickety wood floors, staring right into his very soul. She was so close her breath was whacking against his mouth, asking for him to come closer. Kiss her plush lips, it begged, taste her.

Maddie smiled just the slightest saying, “That’s good enough.”

She felt good enough for him sometimes, and this whole thing… Was good enough. He was.

She just wished she didn’t drink him up like a full glass of water.

She couldn’t say no to him.

Not when she lost herself every time he even as much as flicked his cigarette ashes her way.


End file.
